


Kingdom Hearts AU: The Forgotten X-Blade

by 2LeafClover



Series: Kingdom Hearts AU: The Forgotten X-Blade [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kingdom Hearts Fusion, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Kingdom Hearts III Speculation, My First Smut, Post-Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Post-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Post-Kingdom Hearts II, Pre-Kingdom Hearts I, Smut, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts 2.8, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts I, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts II
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2019-08-23 05:22:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16612703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2LeafClover/pseuds/2LeafClover
Summary: What if there was a world where the true X-blade lived among the humans and escaped it's prison? Follow along in Cynthia's journey of betrayal, love, pain, happiness, and sadness. Where humans no longer live together in one single world, but multiple. Where we begin Cynthia's journey, it begins meeting a lone man on an island who's only hope is to leave that small prison. But what if truths were twisted, and lies were created? Soon the X-blade begins to experience doubt, lies, and even death of loved ones.





	1. Prologue

A young man stood in front of a lake. A world much too small for him as his lack of knowledge was suddenly expanded by a man dressed in a brown robe explained his destiny and what he was going to be doing in his lifetime. Bewildered, as if it all had just been a dream, his stern gaze watched the waves crashed into the sand.. As he stood there gazing upon it, he felt the presence of another person behind him. He turned around to gaze upon the face of an extremely young girl dressed in a fully cloaked black outfit. She was quite young. Her hazel eyes locked into his. Her head was consumed by a helmet from which shielded their eyes from meeting. That's when he felt a horrible feeling inside him. It was dark and cold. He realized what he was feeling from the girl as she summoned a huge and long crystal looking weapon adorned with what looked to be like two keys attached to the long blade that was pointed at him.  
She rose the keyblade up towards him silently and then vanished.  
Xehanort began to panic. Widespread panic of unable to do anything but stand there helpless, looking around for a stick. He knew exactly what she was from what that crippled man from before said, if what he said was true.  
Keyblades were only wielded by the most powerful warriors of the one and single world. Thousands of them existed, however, there was a great war that occurred all for one weapon. The X-blade! Pronounced "Key" or "Kai" blade.  
The next thing he saw before him was an younger looking boy with black hair with a keyblade as well. "Master! I found her!", he shouted, pouncing off the ground with his keyblade raised above his head. The girl looked up in expectation and dodged the incoming attack. Suddenly a man dressed in armor, on a strange vehicle appeared as well. Xehanort watched the girl curiously. _How could a girl be this skilled at sword fighting?_ , he wondered to himself. If it wasn't for the words of that crazy old and disfigured man who claimed to be himself from the future, he wouldn't have believed that this girl would become his own personal bodyguard.  
The next thing he knew the girl was now fighting with two keyblades, instead of a big long one, against a keyblade master and his apprentice. Their keyblades swing back and forth, never hitting the owner. "You need to practice not fighting harmless children, Cynthia...", the keyblade owner said. He disappeared right before Xehanort's eyes. Suddenly, he sky dives straight into her. Cynthia tried to hold him off using both of her keyblades. Then the black haired boy dashed at her screaming. Cynthia stared in realization that she forgot about him. He smashed his keyblade straight into her chest. She immediately was sent flying upon impact, rolling away at an extreme high speed, smashing into a rock. Her body fell to the ground, as her keyblades disappeared.  
The man picked her up. The boy arrived next to him and cheerfully smiles. The older man’s armored helmet disappeared as he approached Xehanort and said," I sense a power from you. It's quite powerful. Not more than my star pupil of course, but it's strong. I don't understand why my pupil would come all the way to this island to try and challenge you, but please forgive her. She's not able to control her own power yet."  
Xehanort smiled and looked kinda surprised. "I honestly thought keyblade wielders were a legend. I'm amazed to see that they're real. Can I become one too?!", he asked anxiously, barely containing his excitement back.  
The man smiled. "I'm Keyblade Master Luxu. These are my students Eraqus, and Cynthia.", he said gesturing towards the two. Eraqus beamed back, happily. Cynthia’s helmet dissolved, with a disapproving look on her face as she slowly started to come to. “That hurt, Eraqus..,” she said quietly.  
Xehanort smiled.

That was seventy years ago. Xehanort stood before that same ocean on Destiny Island. This time, he was alone, wearing a black cloak, holding a boy wrapped in a cloak. He walked quietly towards a small towering island, crossing a few bridges to reach that point. Eventually he placed the boy down onto the Paopu fruit tree.  
“There, you see?”, he spoke aloud, “An empty world. Like a prison.”  
He laid the boy onto the tree’s truck. “I imagine you’ll be quite at home.”  
He walked around, readying to leave. Xehanort suddenly felt a strong amount of energy being called forth behind him. He whipped around to see the boy holding out his arm, calling forth a keyblade. He grinned. “Ahh..,” Xehanort exclaimed, “A keyblade!”  
Xehanort sighed with relief. Perhaps he would still be able to forge the X-blade after all. He would be able to fight again.


	2. His Apprentice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a segment which I marked where I took a piece of the Birth By Sleep translation and placed it into this story. I felt that changing it was too disrespectful, so I left it alone. However, I did want to credit the person who translated it too. 
> 
> Credits:  
> Kanemaki, Tomoko. Birth By Sleep - Dark Memory Translation: Story 10 (Vanitas’s backstory (Translation by Oishii)), July 30 2011,  
> http://kh13.com/forum/topic/21463-dark-memory-translation-vanitas-backstory/

Master Cynthia stood outside awaiting for her beloved best friend to arrive. She appeared to look no older than a day over twenty, dressed in an outfit quite similar to her student, Aqua. However, completely white and black. She only had one sash on her right hip side, to coordinate with her right handedness. She had a set of armor on her left arm, and gothic lace up gloves that went to her elbows that were tied with white strings. Her long silver hair, kept down. Just how he used to like it. He always disliked it in a ponytail, which is how she usual kept it. Her yellow eyes, were just like his. She had hoped that he would eventually come to need her again.  
Cynthia gazed up into the sky, sitting on the ledge. She could fall into the world below and probably fall into the ocean, where she and her pupils would play on a hot and sunny day. Just not today, as her former master and best friend was arriving. He had contacted her instead of Master Eraqus, but she had alerted him of his arrival from his so-called self punishment. Master Xehanort arrived coming out of a portal of darkness, a boy followed behind him, looking much like a corpse. “Master Cynthia.”, he said with a grim expression on his face.   
“Master Xehanort.”, Cynthia said, frowning. She loved him so much, but yet it had come to this. Being on two opposite sides.   
He hurried up his pace and embraced her tightly in a hug. She couldn’t raise her arms to accept the hug. She felt disgusted, yet all she wanted to do was forgive him.   
“Cynthia.”, Xehanort spoke softly to her, “I need to speak to Master Eraqus. Or you. Whichever I can convince to let my pupil stay here.”  
She glanced at the boy behind him. His bright blue eyes showed no light inside of them. What had Master Xehanort done to the boy? “Xehanort...I’m under no conditions to accept your-”, she began to say.   
“Master Xehanort.”, Master Eraqus’s voice rang out from behind her, “Come in my old friend.”  
“Eraqus.”, Master Xehanort replied, eagerly ignoring Cynthia, “I have a favor to ask.”  
The tones of the voices were pleasant and cheerful towards the each other, but she was well aware of what had happened between these two old friends. Cynthia and Xehanort followed Master Eraqus until they all were inside the castle, where Aqua and Terra ran out of the practice hall to greet everyone. While Cynthia, Xehanort and Eraqus walked to his office, Terra and Aqua went down to meet the boy. Master Eraqus took a seat at his desk. Everything turned dark the moment Xehanort took a seat. Cynthia stood by the door, leaning against it crossing her arms.  
““What in the world did you come here to ask me for, Xehanort?”, Eraqus asked, curtly looking at him.  
Xehanort looked directly into the damaged face of Master Eraqus.   
“I wish to leave my student Ventus in your care.”, he spoke.  
“What in the world do you mean?”  
At his question, Xehanort silently shook his head, looking down towards the ground. A pained expression appeared on his face as he clutched his heart. 

(Notes to the reader: As this part is apart of the book series of BBS, I felt necessary to put it in here. It’s apart of the Vanitas story translation. The credits are in the notes)  
“I’ve made a mistake, Eraqus. As you well know, I was pursuing the X-blade and the moment I was about to create it, I damaged my student’s heart. He lost his memories, and now he’s become something like an empty shell.”, he sighed sadly, unable to look up,“Now when I look at what I’ve done to Ventus. I am heartbroken. I am too old for this. I don’t think I can bear this guilty conscious for much longer.”  
Xehanort reached across the table and gripped Eraqus’s hands that laid on the desk in front of him and continued while looking into his face.  
“That child is my sin. My despair. My hope. For this reason, I wish to leave him with someone like you who is full of light. I want to put an end to the my past self that is obsessed with darkness and seeks to know the truth about the X-blade, and in order to do this I wish to release him into you and (Y/N)’s care. Eraqus. Please listen to the request of an old man. I need redemption for what I did to that boy. As this is your world, I will gladly disappear into another world.”  
“Xehanort......” Eraqus’ voice rose with gratification. He appeared to be choked up. Cynthia was ready to jump down Xehanort’s throat-  
“My request, couldn’t you fulfill this for me, Eraqus, (Y/N)? My beloved friends.”  
(Note: End)

At that moment, a screaming voice echoed from outside. Ventus’ voice. You bolted for the door first since you were the only one standing up at that moment. Xehanort and Eraqus followed close behind. Luckily you were on the first floor. Terra and Aqua were standing before Ventus who was gripping his head screaming.   
“What did you do?”, Master Eraqus’s voice rang out before you could even speak.   
Your student Terra looked mortified as he spoke. “I..I was only asking him stuff..”, he cried out.   
Xehanort walked past him as he spoke and bent down to pick up his broken pupil. He held him close and glared at Terra.   
Master Eraqus’s voice softened to not frighten Terra. “Ventus...Will not be able to answer any of your questions, as he’s lost his memories and will. He will be unable to do anything for the time being.”, Eraqus responded, “But I want you, Aqua and Cynthia to help train and comfort him in his time of need.”  
You looked at Master Eraqus in shock. “Y-You’re accepting Xehanort’s offer?!,” Cynthia cried out in anguish.   
Eraqus glared at you. “I will speak to you later on the matter, Master Cynthia, however, this is my world and I will do what I think is right.”, he snapped at her.   
Cynthia felt her own title feel nothing to her. Being a master when her words meant nothing to Eraqus made her feel worthless. Xehanort appeared to be choked up. She growled looking at her friend in despair. She wanted to,help him.   
Eraqus helped his friend up, and ordered Terra to pick up Ventus and take him to his new room, which would be at the top of the tower in the middle section of the castle. Terra quickly obeyed and Aqua followed silently.  
“Cynthia. I want you to escort Master Xehanort out and back to his ride,” Eraqus said, “then I want you to report to me immediately after he has left. We have some matters to,attend to.”  
He turned around briskly and walked back towards his office.   
It was finally just her and Xehanort.  
“I see you do not like Ventus,” Xehanort turned towards Cynthia.  
“He was my replacement. Wasn't he?,” she asked, refusing to look at him.  
Xehanort raised his hand and brushed his hand against her cheek. “Yes. Yes he was. Since you turned against me, it was my only option. You left me with no other choice.”, he said gently stroking her jawline.  
“I hate you still.”, Cynthia murmured.   
“Why don't you show me your room in the castle. I'd like to see what's been done with the place before I leave.”  
“Wouldn't it be better for you to leave?”  
“Perhaps. But I would also like to speak with you on something else in private.”  
Cynthia turned to look at Xehanort.  
“Now is not the time.,” she said coldly, “Master Eraqus is probably going to berate me for undermining his judgment on Ventus.”   
Master Xehanort looked at Cynthia and spoke softly, “Perhaps another time then.”  
Cynthia looked at him and nodded. How she missed him. His soft and gentle voice. The one man who always respected her, instead of seeing her as a weapon of destruction. The one who could unlock...Kingdom Hearts. Xehanort knew exactly how to please her, and just the right techniques to use whenever he needed to manipulate her, which was what eventually led Cynthia to Eraqus, begging him for help from the clutches of Xehanort.   
It resulted in a massive fight over Cynthia, and scarring Eraqus physically and mentally. Of course, it just wasn’t Cynthia they were fighting over. Xehanort believed darkness was just as important as the light, however, he let it consume him too much. Eraqus believed that the light was the only way of using the keyblade. That darkness was the truest depth of evil in existence. Cynthia walked in between the realm of darkness and light. Her wishy washy ways also clashed with Eraqus, as she always wanted to do what was best for everyone. Even if it wasn’t the best idea.   
As Cynthia thought about Eraqus and Xehanort fighting, she cringed at the thought of herself ever choosing to go back to Xehanort. Although, Eraqus wasn’t the best at being a master either. That’s why Xehanort had manipulated Cynthia to join him too. Turning her against everything she believed in. Even-  
“Master Cynthia?,” Xehanort’s voice chimed in, “Is everything alright?”  
She looked up and at Xehanort. He was staring directly at her. His yellow eyes appeared to be piercing her soul.   
“Yes, Master Xehanort.,” she said smiling. 

Once they had reached the courtyard, he lifted his hand and a portal of darkness appeared. “Cynthia..Why don’t you come with me?,” he asked, raising his hand towards her, as if beckoning her to take it.  
Cynthia frowned. She replied, “The last time I did, you took my body and soul.”   
She pointed to her eyes. Xehanort grinned. “Of course. How could I forget.,” He said, chuckling and lowering his hand.   
“One day, I’ll return. Perhaps then, you’ll return to my side.,” he said quietly, turning around and walking through the portal.   
“One day.,” Cynthia echoed quietly to herself.   
A thought of darkness crossed her mind. What if, when he returned, she would betray her own students, and friends? She shook her head trying to remove the thought from her mind. Like hell, i’d let that happen, she thought to herself.


	3. Master Eraqus’s Request

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cynthia is upset about how Eraqus is treating her. Will they make up? Will they fall into darkness?

Master Eraqus’s Request

Undermining a master was disrespect in the highest regard. Much less coming from a master who was older than himself. Eraqus paced angrily back and forth in his office. How dare she undermine me like that?, he angrily thought to himself, How dare she disrespect my authority like that? This is my world. Not hers. She can’t tell me what to do! Especially in front of my own pupils!!  
He stopped and looked out the window below. He could see the courtyard from which Master Xehanort and Master Cynthia were speaking. Xehanort had just passed through the portal of darkness. A path that he had chosen to walk down a long time ago, but wasn’t able to come out of again.  
Time felt slow for him, as he waited for Cynthia. He finally took a seat at his desk. Suddenly, a gently knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts. “Greetings, master Eraqus.,” said Aqua, his blue haired and best pupil appeared from behind the door.  
Eraqus smiled gently at her. “What do I owe the pleasure of seeing you so late?,” he asked her.  
Aqua took a deep breath and replied, “Don’t be too mad at Master Cynthia. She was just doing her job at protecting us.”  
Eraqus stopped smiling and his face turned into a frown. He sighed and said, “Aqua. I’m truly not mad at Master Cynthia. I understand where she was coming from. I promise I won’t be too hard on her. Now, is that all?”  
She shook her head. “That boy Ventus still hasn’t woken up yet. Do you know when he will?,” she pushed a wild strand of hair behind her ear.  
“No.,” Master Eraqus replied, trying to get Aqua to leave so he could speak with Cynthia before she found some excuse to escape not speaking to him because Aqua happened to be there.  
Aqua sighed and looked down. “Alright. Good day, master. Will we see you at dinner?,” she asked him.  
More questions.  
Eraqus sighed and smiled again, saying, “Yes my dear. I’ll see you at dinner.”  
Aqua’s face brightened itself with a smile. “Okay then. See you then.,” she said cheerfully.  
Eraqus waved as Aqua helped herself out of his office. He leaned back in his chair and kicked up his feet onto his desk. He still couldn’t believe how beloved Master Cynthia was by Terra and Aqua. Hopefully Ventus would attach himself to her too. Another knock appeared on the door. “Come in.,” he said, clasping his hands together in front of his face, and leaning against them. 

Master Cynthia sighed when Xehanort had finally left. What did he want from her? It wasn’t to be by his side. She surely knew that. Perhaps it was her abilities as the X-blade that he wanted. That would make more sense, knowing him.  
She had finally reached Master Eraqus’s door when she saw Aqua leaving it. Aqua looked up in surprise when she saw Cynthia. “Good evening, Master!,” she exclaimed happily.  
At least one person was happy to see her.  
“Good evening, Aqua.,” you said calmly.  
“I can’t believe Master Eraqus is upset at you, like...You didn’t say anything wrong! I hope he doesn’t get too upset at you,” she said looking down at the ground.  
You chuckled. “I’ve known Master Eraqus for a long time. He won’t stay mad for long,” she said smiling at the young apprentice.  
Aqua nodded. “You got this,” she said cheerfully raising a fist in the air, “I’ve got training to do with Terra since our exams to show our strength to Master Eraqus are in a week,” she said, walking past Cynthia and waving, “See you at dinner!”  
The exams Aqua happened to be speaking about were trials to see if they were ready to take on the mark of mastery exam. If so, they would be able to become masters themselves.  
You waved back and approached Master Eraqus’s door. She knocked on it. “Come in.”, she heard Master Eraqus say from the other side.  
She opened the door casually, fleeting in as if nothing had happened prior. “Eraqus. You know full well I wasn’t undermining your authority,” she began.  
Eraqus interrupted her. “Yes, you were. In front of our students, no less. Who let you stay here when you had nowhere else to go?!,” he began to yell, “Who protected you from Xehanort? Who got extremely hurt from master Xehanort?”  
He stood up and slammed his fists onto his desk. Why couldn’t Cynthia understand how he felt. Xehanort was dangerous, and he knew it. She knew it too!  
Cynthia sighed and looked down towards the ground. He was right. Eraqus had been nothing but understanding and kind towards her. Even when she became apart of Xehanort he stayed beside her and helped her get used to her new life. She would be unable to destroy that part of Xehanort inside of her unless she found some special keyblade that could unlock hearts- One did exist, however, it did require a lot of work to create it, and she knew exactly how to make it, but taking the princesses of hearts hearts was too much to bear.  
“You did Master Eraqus.,” she said coldly.  
Eraqus looked up at her angrily. “You’re so fucking useless,” he growled, “I don’t know why I let you stay here.”  
Cynthia’s eyes widened in sheer pain as Eraqus covered his mouth. She looked away from her friend. Eraqus realized what had just slipped out. “I did not mean-”, he tried to say, but all in failure as Cynthia stormed out.  
The door slammed behind her with a loud click echoing throughout the hallways. She then fled to her bedroom. Perhaps, it isn’t a bad idea after all….Going after Xehanort, she thought to herself.  
When she finally made it to her bedroom, she jumped onto her bed and sobbed. Sobbing uncontrollably would make her look extremely weak in front of her student, so she was grateful they were training out in the training field. “Xehanort...Oh Xehanort”, she sobbed, clenching her fists, screaming into her pillow.  
The darkness inside of her spoke to her as if it was singing. How she wanted to slay Eraqus for making her feel this way. However, she understood it being wrong.  
Master Luxu stood in front of her. “Tsk...Tsk…”, he said, crossing his arms and shaking his head, “Cynthia...You know that’s no good.”  
Cynthia stood in front of what was a former human and now was watching the heart float up into the sky. “They were a bad person, like you said master,” she said coldly, her X-blade in hand.  
Luxu stepped next to her and placed his hand on her head. “But even so, bad people must live to keep the equality and peace. Doesn’t your heart feel that?,” he asked her gently.  
Cynthia placed a hand over her heart and said, “My heart felt that it was right to remove this man. He was hurting the world order, so he had to be removed.”  
Master Luxu shrugged. “Can’t argue with that,” he said, turning around, “Just remember, Cynthia. The darkness will consume you if you’re too weak.”  
Cynthia nodded. 

Cynthia must’ve dozed off. She blinked a few times before realizing she was on her own bed. She cried herself to sleep. God she felt awful. That’s when it hit her. What time was it? Had she missed dinner?!  
She jumped from her bed and flew, running as fast as she could, to the dining hall. Sure enough, they were all there eating quietly. Eraqus sat at the head, Cynthia sat at the other head. Ventus was now sitting across from Terra. Aqua was sitting next to Ventus and trying to feed him, which he was accepting, but it was still like looking at a corpse.  
What had Xehanort done truly to the boy?  
Besides trying to extract the X-blade from this boy, what had broken him to the point of this? She was going to find out. Even if Eraqus punished her. She was going to use her power on Ventus. To search his memories to find out what happened.  
She took her seat at the other end of the table, acknowledging her students and Eraqus. They all sat quietly, eating. “How did your training go, Aqua, Terra,” Cynthia asked, dipped her spoon into her soup, silently and princess-like slurping the soup quietly.  
Terra proudly said, “I finally beat Aqua in a one v. one match.”  
He was grinning from ear to ear.  
Aqua rolled her eyes. “I let you win,” she jokingly said.  
Terra countered, “As if I’d let you try.”  
The two began to banter. Cynthia watched Eraqus. He just sat there as if he was in a gloomy mood, playing with his soup. “Eraqus, how was the rest of your day?,” Cynthia gently asked him, afraid to poke the bear.  
Eraqus looked up from his thoughts and said, “I’ve been debating on moving up their master of master trial exams.”  
What?  
Cynthia felt fear flood into her. Xehanort would be returning shorter than she thought. “S-So, less than a month?,” she asked.  
Master Eraqus nodded. “Yes. I’ve decided that they’re ready. After watching their match today-”  
Terra looked at Master Eraqus shocked. “You were watching?!”, he exclaimed, “How come I didn’t notice?”  
Eraqus sighed. “You need to work on that. A Master always notices his surroundings.”, he said.  
Cynthia giggled. Something she didn’t quite expect. Eraqus flashed her a look. A curious look, where she began to regret chuckling at Terra’s skills. “We’ll work on that tomorrow, Terra,” Cynthia said, regaining composure.  
Terra looked at Cynthia with utmost joy. Learning anything was everything to Terra. A curious nature like that however, could really hurt someone or lead them down the wrong path. Terra began scrambling and started scarfing down his food. “Whoa..Whoa, there my student. Getting a stomach ache won’t lead to proper training. It’s not like you’re going to become a master in less than a day,” Cynthia started to say.  
Terra began to speak with food in his mouth, “Bewing…*chew*...a...mwaster..ish...well ever….dreamwed abut.”  
Cynthia cringed. “Don’t talk with your mouth full,” she snapped.  
Aqua laughed.  
That’s when it happened. A small quiet giggle from Ventus came out.  
Everyone stopped talking and looked at Ventus.  
Eraqus chimed in, “Aqua, Terra. Why not take Ventus to bed. Me and Cynthia have some more matters to discuss.”  
Aqua and Terra both looked at the two of them and nodded, leading Ventus away. Cynthia sighed. How annoying, she thought, more drama to deal with today.  
As soon as Aqua, Terra and Ventus were out of the room, Eraqus began to speak, “I’m sorry for my behavior today. I’m undergoing a lot of stress at the moment.”  
“What’s the matter?,” Cynthia asked, quickly looking at Eraqus worriedly.  
Eraqus sighed. “I need you to watch Ventus. If he shows any signs of darkness, I need you to destroy him immediately,” he quickly said, “If he even draws his keyblade on you, destroy him.”  
You nodded. “But why the sudden change of heart?,” she asked, squinting her eyes to get a better look at her friend to see if she could read his expression.  
“You know Xehanort better than anyone,” Eraqus repiled, “Why else would he put Ventus here?”  
“To try and get us to better him?”  
“Precisely,” Eraqus said, jabbing his spoon at her.  
“So you’re thinking Xehanort purposely injured his student to the point of possible death, just so he could strengthen him?,” Cynthia asked, inquisitively.  
Eraqus sighed and shook his head. “You of all people know what he’s like. Why is it so hard for you to believe?,” he asked.  
Cynthia defensively repiled, “Because he could’ve changed. He could be a completely different pers-”  
“That man has no heart,” Eraqus said, “Who the hell puts a young boy through what Xehanort did to create the X-blade?!”  
“You’re right on that part. We already have one,” Cynthia chimed in.  
Cynthia knew that Xehanort knew she was the X-blade. There was no need to forge another one. Even so, all Xehanort needed to do was kill thirteen keyblade wielders to forge one X-blade, but all the keybladers that were left were Cynthia, Eraqus, Aqua, Terra and Xehanort. And possibly Ventus, if he was with Xehanort. That was six. Even so, it was best if there weren’t any keyblade wielders anymore. Having a keyblade meant having extremely tough responsibilities, but even so...It could turn people against the light and proving that they were worthy of wielding a keyblade.  
Cynthia thought back to the times she would have practice day and night to summon the X-blade. Her master then was extremely tough on her. He knew she was the only one who could summon it though, so he pushed her day and night. The only time he let up was during food hours. After that, so much had happened, she could barely remember it all. Decades had passed. But she was the owner of the X-blade though. Hers was a tad bit different than the legends though. Hers had the keyblades by the name of the Oblivion and Oathkeeper attached to where a Kingdom key keyblade would lay.  
Eraqus finally spoke up, “I want you to promise me, if Ventus becomes evil, or tries to leave this world, or Xehanort tries anything funny...You’ll destroy Ventus.”  
Cynthia looked at Eraqus with wide eyes. Cynthia pressed her hands to her chest tightly. “I-I don’t know if I can,” she replied softly, “If he was trained by Master Xehanort, he’d be awfully powerfully right?”  
Master Eraqus took another spoonful of food. “You’re also extremely powerful. You haven’t wielded your blade since you took our master’s life. You know your job is to remove extremely dangerous people,” he said, with a saddened look in his eyes.  
“That’s not truly what my job is,” Cynthia snapped, “You know my true purpose is to become a weapon so powerful, that not even Kingdom hearts will keep its secrets from me. I’m the only person who knows what’s beyond Kingdom Hearts.”  
Eraqus sighed. “So will you accept my request?” he asked.  
“I’ll consider it,” she said quietly.  
Eraqus sipped at some wine he was drinking, “Thank you Cynthia. Remember...If I die, this world becomes yours. You are my successor for this world.”  
“Technically, I was already supposed to be successor to this world, but someone here won the heart of our master and stole that role from me,” Cynthia breathed out annoyed.  
Eraqus chuckled. “My dear Cynthia. He knew your heart wasn’t going to be strapped to one place. You wanted to go out and explore,” he laughed.  
Cynthia pressed her lips together in annoyance, but also feeling relatable. Because Eraqus wasn’t wrong. “Meh...I’ll do it. If necessary, I’ll kill Ventus,” she said flipping her hair back.  
Eraqus breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Cynthia,” he said, smiling.  
Cynthia scooted the chair back and stood up. “Don’t thank me,” she began, “Thank my training.”  
Eraqus smiled and sip some more of his wine. “Rest well, Cynthia. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.  
Cynthia smiled and turned around, knowing full well if Ventus were to screw up in any way shape or form, it was the end of him. She exited the dining hall and walked towards her room. She overheard the voices of Aqua and Terra training. They never stopped training. She snuck outside and began to watch them. They were both practicing and doing their absolute best. She couldn’t help but smile. It was absolutely amazing to watch. Two best friends, working together to the same goal. Up to this moment, they were fighting and doing their absolute best. It wasn’t the same as how she had been training them. 

They were more than ready to take on the trial.

*** Four Years Later ***

As much as Cynthia would’ve liked to believe that it would’ve taken Ventus much less time to become his childish and inspired self, it took seven years for Ventus to finally act like a human again, rather than a corpse. Come to find out according to Xehanort, who had sent a letter, he was a keyblade wielder himself as she and Eraqus had suspected. He added that Terra was beginning to show signs of darkness, which was quite odd as he both had Cynthia and Eraqus as teachers who sided with the light. Cynthia summed it up to him being more jealous as Aqua was showing far more potential in becoming a master more so than Terra. Terra had fallen behind so many years ago during one of his trials and had failed. Since then, Terra worked day and night training to try and surpass Aqua, although Cynthia had tried to persuade Terra to focus on his mental health. That had failed as well.  
Eventually, it all led up to now. Two days from now was the biggest event of Terra and Aqua’s life. The moment they had been waiting and training for, for so long. Terra denied being excited, but it was obvious that he was. Aqua was confident in doing her best and wanted to make sure everyone else was going to do their best as well. Ventus wanted to test as well, but he understood that he was far from ready.  
However, this was all good and all, but what truly worried Cynthia was the uprise of these beings known as Unverse. Xehanort had also mentioned in his letter that these creatures were conjured from negativity in one’s heart. Cynthia hoped that her own heart hadn’t created some of these monsters. Yen Sid had also wrote to Cynthia and Eraqus about the Unverse. In his letter, he wanted Cynthia to check them out. Which she had. For the past 4 years, she had been searching and checking up on the growth of the Unverse. Soon it had seemed the only place without them was the world she was residing in. She hadn’t seen Xehanort since that day he dropped off Ventus. She worried about him day and night. Four years seemed so long, especially since she hadn’t seen him since. She had even checked that place for him.  
Eraqus had sent their friend a letter, an invitation to help choose a new keyblade master, in hopes of wanting to reunite the trio together, moving on with the past. He was finally forgiving Xehanort for all of his past misdeeds, Cynthia guessed. When Cynthia had snapped at Master Eraqus, berating him for such an idea, he shushed her with a single sentence, “We need to let begones be begones.”  
Cynthia, however, became obsessed with the idea that perhaps Xehanort can finally changed into a good person, but something deep down kept reminding her that the scars on Master Eraqus’s face were there for a good reason. The Xehanort she knew and worshipped was long gone.  
A passage of darkness opened up, and Cynthia stood up quickly, brushing off any dirt in the process. An elderly man walked out, hunched forward. Her heart skipped a beat, as he spoke. “Cynthia.”, he said acknowledging her presence.  
She fell to one knee and lowered her head. “M-Master Xehanort.”, she sputtered out, “It is an honor to see you again.”  
She couldn’t bare to make to make eye contact. However, it seemed Xehanort had different intentions. “You may rise, Master Cynthia. And please stop with the formalities when we’re with each other,” he said.  
Cynthia looked up at him, and quickly rose, blushing.  
“M- I mean Xehanort….”, Cynthia started to say.  
“Come here.”, he ordered.  
Cynthia felt her eyes begin to water. He held out his arms awaiting a hug, and she didn’t wait for him to take that back. She dashed straight into his arms, embracing him tightly. “Do you still have it, my dear?”, he asked her, smiling.  
“The X-blade?”, she asked him curiously, “Of course. Why would it reject me? I’m true darkness and apart of the light.”  
Xehanort shrugged. “I may have figured out how to recreate another one.”, he said so quietly, barely a whisper.  
She felt the blood leave her face. He was still obsessed with the X-blade after all. “Xehanort…”, she started to say, trying to leave his hug.  
His grip became more intense. He wasn’t letting go. “Cynthia,” he began, “ I need you. I need your help.”  
She tried to force him off, but the older man was stronger. “M-master...Please...You’re hurting me.”, she whimpered.  
He looked at her and said, “You’ve grown weak if a simple hug is hurting you.”  
Cynthia looked up at her former master hurt. “M-master...You know I’ve been training alongside Eraqus. Of course I’ve grown weaker.”, she said, visibly upset.  
Xehanort pushed her away. “I’m tired from my travels. Escort me to my room.”, he ordered.  
“Ah! Right this way, Xehanort!,” she said surprised.  
She walked beside him, curious about his chosen wording. Travels? Where had he been traveling to? But the two didn’t say anything further until he had reached the guest room. “The Land of Departure,” he said, “This was the place our master chose as a place for us to remain since we had left Cable town.”  
She nodded as he rambled on. She sighed. She missed the younger Xehanort who was more energetic and playful. Now he was terribly serious. Suddenly, she felt someone take her hand. She looked at Xehanort, who was indeed holding her hand.  
Cynthia blushed. “M-master, what are you doing?!,” she whispered angrily, afraid the walls could echo her voice down the halls.  
“I missed doing this,” he said, caressing her hand.  
She looked away. Her ex-master, her ex-lover, her ex-boyfriend, her ex-fiance. What was he to her? He was everything? Yet, he threw all that away for darkness. To equalify the balance. The world needs a powerful darkness. There’s too much light. So there needs to be someone as equally evil. She wanted to be with him. However, she was afraid the X-blade would reject her and leave. She needed to be strong. However, if someone like Master Xehanort could recreate the X-blade for himself, then perhaps she could stay by his side.  
“Xehanort. Have you perhaps come back for me?”, she asked him.  
He looked at her. “I have many reasons for coming back, Cynthia. And you’re one of them,” he said grinning.  
She smiled in relief. He did want to wield her again. She blushed happily.  
“I also wanted you to meet Vanitas.”, he said, extending his arm around her, as if to guide her.  
Once they had entered the guest room, a wave of evil energy spewed out in front of her. She summoned her backup keyblade, the oblivion, to counter it. “Cynthia, this is Vanitas. Your replacement X-blade.”, Xehanort said chuckling.  
She looked at him. A boy stepped out. Black spikey hair, yellow eyes, and he was actually quite cute if not for him looking far younger than you expected. “A mere child?”, she asked, “How can a mere child replace me?”  
Xehanort smirked. “This mere child can easily merge with you.”, he said, keeping that smirk plastered onto his face.  
Cynthia looked at him. “I remember hearing you were trying to create a vessel for yourself. Was this the failed attempt?”, she asked, turning around to face her master who began to glower at her.  
“No. Ventus was the failed attempt.”, he said snapping at her, “Vanitas will not be able to become a X-blade without Ventus, or someone equally powerful.”  
He looked at Cynthia up and down, using his eyes.  
“Cynthia…”, Vanitas started, “I don’t expect you to need me as you’re already strong enough to summon the X-blade by your lonesome. However, I need to fight Ventus.”  
“Ven?,” she asked, “What does Ven have to do with this?”  
Vanitas grinned slyly. “You’ll see,” he said grinning from ear to ear.  
“X-Xehanort!”, she cried out, “What is he talking about?!”  
She pointed her keyblade at Vanitas. “Don’t you dare think about hurting Ve-,” she began.  
Wrong choice. She heard the sound of a keyblade being summoned behind her and an overwhelming wave of darkness. She turned around and saw Xehanort’s keyblade ready. Her eyes widened and immediately bowed. “I-I’m sorry master Xehanort. I overstepped my bounds.,” she said beginning to feel fear grow inside of her.  
Vanitas walked up to her and kicked her extremely hard. “Bitch. I’m over here. Pay attention to me. Not that stupid old man,” he said angrily.  
Xehanort sat on the bed and began to look through some stuff. “Let me know when you two children are done playing. I have some work to do,” he said waving.  
“Xe-Xehanort, please wait!!,” Cynthia cried out, reaching her hand out for him.  
He looked at her and flashed her a look. The look caused tears to form in the corners of her eyes. He had no intentions of helping her. “Fine,” she growled, “This is what you want?”  
She summoned her X-blade.  
“Come and get it,” she spoke angrily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoy the story thus far. Xehanort is one of my favorite characters in KH. He was even voiced by the man I loved for so many years as a child and into adulthood. So it was like a match made in heaven? XD Of course, Leonard Nimoy is a beautiful man. I miss him to be honest. I dislike the new voice actor for him :/


End file.
